Thursday, January 29, 2015

Ottobre Magazine

So I’ve gotten a few questions lately about Ottobre and how it compares with other companies when it comes to kids’ clothing. Here’s my two cents and I’m getting no kickbacks from anyone. I love Burdastyle Magazine for me. I don’t really love it for kid’s clothing. I maybe have never made a single thing for my kids from my Burda magazines. Not that I can remember, anyway.

Ottobre magazine ends up being a little less than $20 per magazine. I only have a few of them for kid’s designs. I also have a couple for adult clothing, but they don’t fit me as well as Burda, so I’m sticking with Burda. Personally, I think the Ottobre magazines are a great deal for kids’ clothing. Yes, I could Frankenpattern something together and make it work, but like I said in this post, I lack creative juices. I can make anything, just not make it look great. Ottobre has really cute design details and they usually show many versions of the same pattern. My last two magazines were 01-2014 and 01-2015. I don’t have a subscription and I buy them individually.

Here’s a little picture summary for you. Already made. You haven’t seen all of these yet. I need to take some photos and make some princesses smile before that happens.

Will make for sure. The white numbers are the pattern number and the black numbers are the size range. I have one in the 110 size, two in the 122 range, and one in the 134 range. The dots are the difficulty rating.

This is from the newest magazine. I just got it two days ago. What I also love about Ottobre is that they have sizes for that tricky “tween” size range.

I do really think that Ottobre is a great deal if you are sewing kids clothing. Yes, you still have to trace them out, but they are easier that Burda patterns.

15 comments:

Toby Wollin
said...

I love Ottobre for kids stuff -- I've made everything from sleepers to dresses to vests and fancy pants and raincoats for the grandkids. The clothing is interesting and fun and the size ranges are good.

Ottobre fits me! I haven't made any kids things yet but I love the RTW detailing that makes it look high-end boutique. Not your usual home-sewn-item from a pattern. {And not heavy on the flounce/ruffle detailing which is cute to look at but not fun to play in- my kids were always more interested in playing than modeling}.

Thank you so much for this, Dawn! After I had asked you about this a few days ago, I browsed thru an Etsy shop that had back issues and bought one. I haven't received it yet... maybe in today's mail?! (fingers crossed!) I could not find really current issues, most were several months old - where do you get yours at? I look forward to trying these!

Ottobre also has an etsy shop (https://www.etsy.com/shop/Ottobredesign) with current issues and some of their fabrics and supplies. I believe they also signed recently with Barns and Noble and should be in stores sometime soon. For Karen, they are out of Finland but are published in multiple languages, including English. Instructions are mostly text--not a lot of picture by picture explanations for things. I love me some Ottobre!

I love Ottobre too. I did find that I made my ten year old nephew the size corresponding to his height, and he couldn't get it over his shoulders, so now I measure rtw in a size I know fits before making. Of course, if you have access to the actual child this doesnt matter. I love their design details too and the patterns go together really well. And they don't have that mini-me or excessive frills thing I associate with McCalls. And their tween clothes seem to be acceptable to the junior fashion panel without being skanky, so that's a win!

Yay, I love Ottobre. I've been a subscriber for about ten years now and I've learned so much using their patterns. I think they are the best kids patterns available, consistent sizing, contemporary styles, accurate instructions and plenty of items for boys. I'm always surprised more people don't use them, I guess the tracing is intimidating but really very easy to get the hang of. I also like the women's but I've made much more from the kids. I haven't actually seen it for myself, but the current issue says they will now be carried at Barnes and Noble in the US, which would be great. I maintain a searchable database of line drawings: https://www.evernote.com/pub/jne4sl/ottobredesign it was created as an offshoot of the Ottobre-English yahoo and flickr group.

I made 23, 28 and 29 of the 01/2014 and they all turned out great. The clothes fit well in most instances (as long as you don't forget to add seam allowances!!) Hoping to make more soon. They are so quick to trace and assemble. Pretty without too much frills, because, truthfully, I hate gathering yards upon yards of fabric.

Thanks for that-- I'm just now entering the world of sewing kids' clothes, and was thinking it might not hurt to look into this at some point. But I really would like to avoid paying the cost of shipping from Europe if I can!

I love, love, love Otto but I must say the tricky tween size stuff is non-existent. There is very little for older girls. If you like the 1 or 2 outfits in the magazine that actually go up to a 162 then you're good but for the most part it doesn't work for my tiny teens. And they ALWAYS show the bigger sizes on a 10 year old which makes it hard to convince my 13 year old that it's age appropriate.